Australian 'loss' a matter of form

Sports writer for The Age

Milos Raonic hits a return to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during a match at the Brisbane International tournament on January 3. Photo: Reuters

COULD this, perhaps, have been Australia's next great tennis player? Could world No. 15 Milos Raonic have been the top-20 successor to Lleyton Hewitt this struggling grand slam nation craves? Whoever designed Australia's lengthy immigration forms may have a little bit to answer for here. Or, actually, a lot.

When engineers Dusan and Vesna Raonic were planning to emigrate from Montenegro with their young family - including three-year-old Milos - two decades ago, they considered Australia. But ended up in Canada. At the AAMI Classic launch at Kooyong on Tuesday, even Hewitt's ears pricked up as Raonic's tale was told.

''It's actually a funny story,'' said the 22-year-old, raised in Ontario, now officially based in Monte Carlo. ''We had friends here when my parents were looking where to move to, and the immigration papers here were much longer than Canada's one page. So it was only one page and my parents didn't speak any English, so that helped Canada's case at that moment.''

Janko Tipsarevic and Milos Raonic. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

When Raonic was later asked whether he would have preferred to be an Australian, he did not bother to play to the local crowd with his reply. ''I'm happy being Canadian,'' said the 196-centimetre power-server, who last year helped to carry his adopted nation back into the Davis Cup world group, where Australia last played in 2007.

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Oh well, we have Marinko Matosevic and Bernard Tomic and Matt Ebden and, well, still Hewitt, the 31-year-old, who is playing without pain for the first time in several years. He lost to Denis Istomin in the second round of his ATP warm-up event, before venturing to historic Kooyong - the old stamping ground of his childhood idol, Pat Cash - for the second time in three years, having won the exhibition at his first attempt in 2011. Not that the AAMI Classic is as much about who takes home the trophy as it is about fine-tuning, with three guaranteed matches, for next week's Australian Open. A surprise presence in the fourth round at Melbourne Park last year, Hewitt has his only serious points of the half-year to defend on his return, although his ranking is the least of the world No. 82's concerns.

''In terms of points, that's not what I play for, and especially at this stage of my career and after so many surgeries, I play to compete, and obviously, the majors and Davis Cup are very special. So for me it's like any other grand slam, and getting out there and competing,'' Hewitt said. ''Obviously, when you're not highly ranked then it opens up to playing anyone early on, and we'll see what happens with the draw.

''The first week in any major you can lose, and you certainly can't win it, so it's a matter of putting yourself in a position to be there in the second week, and every match is tough, and you've got to be prepared to play five-set matches every second day and, obviously, a lot's going to depend on the draw. But I'll be out there giving 100 per cent as usual.''

Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu replaced injured Juan Monaco (hand) in the eight-man field and, later, Kei Nishikori (knee) withdrew following a practice session. Nishikori has been replaced by Croat Ivan Dodig, who was highly recommended to tournament director Colin Stubs by Australian Bob Brett, former coach of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic and current coach of Marin Cilic.

Dodig will face Czech Tomas Berdych in the fourth match of the day at Kooyong after an 11 am start.

Berdych is the highest-ranked player in the field, ahead of seventh-ranked former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro, but it was No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, fresh from claiming his fourth career title in Chennai, who spoke most eloquently.

Despite the long shadow cast by his close friend Novak Djokovic, the 28-year-old is not bothered that single figures do not guarantee him the top ranking in Serbia, while declaring it was only when he realised ''you need to live and breathe tennis every day of your life in order to achieve results and be successful at the top, top level'' that the results came.

''I'm not even No. 1 in North Belgrade where we both live,'' he quipped. ''Obviously, Novak is the best player in the world and I'm aware of that, but I don't … at least I try not to think that I am in anybody's shadow, because tennis as a sport and ATP World Tour I think it is big enough for all of us who want to work hard, sacrifice things in our private lives and do whatever we need to do to be successful.

''There is enough fame, financial satisfaction, recognition for all of us who are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.''